Key Cinemas
4044 S. Keystone Avenue,
Indianapolis,
IN
46227
4044 S. Keystone Avenue,
Indianapolis,
IN
46227
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Jerry Lewis Cinemas, Kerasotes Theatres
Firms: Mallia & Rondunone Associates
Previous Names: Jerry Lewis Keystone Twin Cinema, South Keystone Twin Cinema, Key Cinemas Beech Grove
Nearby Theaters
Opened as the Jerry Lewis Keystone Twin Cinema on November 17, 1971 with Charlton Heston in “The Omega Man” & Dean Jones in “The Million Dollar Duck”. It had a seating capacity of 350 in each auditorium. The theatre was located at the junction of South Keystone, East Hanna and I-465. It became the South Keystone Twin Cinema on May 23, 1973. The architects were Mallia and Rondunone of New York.
On October 27, 1995 it was renamed Key Cinemas, operating as an independent art house cinema, but was closed on March 20, 2008 after a short time operating as the Key Cinemas Beech Grove.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
This was theatre was operated by United Cinema before selling out to Kerasotes Theatres. I believe it was the premiere southside fine arts theatre until the new one opened.
This twin is apparently open again, but the name has been changed to Key Cinemas.
Here’s their website. Their phone numbers & email address are on the “Contact Us” page.
Here’s somebody’s Flickr photo of it from 2006.
An article from March 2008 says the theatre was cutting back days of operation. Link: View link
Cutting hours,doesn’t sound good,Four Seasons Cinemas in Herdersonville,N.C. started this and today it is closed and striped clean.
November 16th, 1971 grand opening ad as Jerry Lewis in photo section.
This was one of the first four of five area Jerry Lewis Twin Cinemas that was announced in June of 1970. The South Keystone Shopping Plaza was a new-build, nondescript location anchored by an IGA grocery store and a drug store as well as the Jerry Lewis Keystone Twin Cinema. The cinema launched November 16, 1971 with “The Omega Man” and “The $1,000,000 Duck.” The parent company of the Jerry Lewis Circuit would go into a financial free fall toward bankruptcy in a year and all five of the local former Lewis theatres rebranded with short-term independent names (this one became the South Keystone Twin Cinema) until they were picked up by United Cinema of Indiana Inc. on May 23, 1973 headed by veteran Loew’s Rochester Theatre manager Lester Pollock. United appears to have folded in May of 1976.
The theatre - along with the other former Lewis Circuit locations - was picked up by CTS Heaston Theatres. Heaston repositioned the venue as a second-run discount house. It then added VHS movie rentals in a club pricing policy in October of 1983. In 1992, CTS Theatres (Heaston removed from the picture) took on the location dropping it in 1995. It reopened under independent operation, on October 27, 1995 still as a sub-run discount house. Ron Keedy repositioned the venue as a first-run art house and used his surname to good effect renaming it as the Key Cinemas.
The Key hosted the International Film Festival and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Film Festival. It also brought to town films that other circuits wouldn’t bring to Indy. When Landmark opened its Keystone Art Cinema on December 9, 2005, Keedy changed the name of the venue to the Key Cinemas Beech Grove and returned to sub-run discount operations. Regular operation was discontinued following March 20, 2008 screenings. It’s double-gang attractor said “Farewell to the Key” and the “ghost sign” of the Key Cinema in the rear of the shopping plaza was still quite visible in the 2020s.